Dear Colleagues,
In April 2024, the Vice President for Research notified the research community that the National Science Foundation (NSF) would begin requiring researchers to certify that they are not members of a Malign Foreign Talent Recruitment Program (MFTRP) both (1) at the time of proposal submission, and (2) annually thereafter. As of May 20th, 2024, NSF implemented this certification at the time of proposal submission but did not implement its annual certification at that time.
NSF has now provided further details on its annual certification requirement: Beginning June 7, 2025, all Principal Investigators (PIs) and co-Principal Investigators (co-PIs) named on an NSF award made on or after May 20, 2024 must certify annually in Research.gov that they are not party to a MFTRP.
Impacted PIs and co-PIs will be prompted to complete the MFTRP certification upon signing into Research.gov (using the Sign In link at the top of www.Research.gov). PIs and co-PIs with more than one active award made on or after May 20, 2024, are only required to certify once, annually. Once completed, PIs and co-PIs can view their MFTRP certification response under the Academic / Professional Information section of their profile. NSF is also working to expand the MFTRP annual certification requirement for all senior/key personnel roles at a future date.
As a reminder, the University maintains a Policy on Foreign Talent Recruitment Programs and Malign Foreign Talent Recruitment Programs that prohibits “Covered Individuals” from participating in MFTRPs. We encourage PIs and Co-PIs to review the definition of “Malign Foreign Talent Recruitment Program” in this policy as well as the University’s guidance on these programs.
For further consultation, researchers may contact the University’s Research Security Officer Joe Doyle. In addition, NSF has communicated that Frequently Asked Questions and sample MFTRP contract language will be available soon on the MFTRP section of the Office of the Chief of Research Security Strategy and Policy website.
Thank you for your attention to this important matter.
Regards,
Steve Dewhurst, PhD
Vice President for Research
Joe Doyle
Research Security Officer and Global Operations Director